Ramipedicella gen. nov. (Ralfsiales, Phaeophyceae): a new crustose brown algal genus including two species, Ramipedicella miniloba sp. nov. and Ramipedicella longicellularis comb. nov.

Abstract

The Ralfsiaceae family, part of the Ralfsiales order and consisting of crustose brown algae, includes five genera: Analipus, Endoplura, Fissipedicella, Heteroralfsia, and Ralfsia. In this study, a novel crustose genus named Ramipedicella gen. nov. is introduced within the Ralfsiaceae based on molecular and morphological analyses. Phylogenetic analyses using both concatenated dataset (rbcL + COI-5P genes) and rbcL indicate that the crustose brown algae that we collected from Korea and Russia form a unique grouping within the Ralfsiaceae. This grouping is strongly supported by both bootstrap analysis and Bayesian posterior probabilities. The genetic differences in the rbcL and COI-5P sequences between Ramipedicella and other genera within Ralfsiaceae range from 6.7 to 9.3% for rbcL and from 15.5 to 20.8% for COI-5P. Ramipedicella is characterized by crustose thalli having new crusts growing on top of old ones with a hypothallial basal layer and erect perithallial filaments, long cells with width-to-length ratio of 1 : 1–16, single chloroplast per cell, plurangia with one to several sterile cells, one to several unangia produced from unicellular stalks or from the lateral-basal region to the paraphyses, and unangia arising sequencially in irregularly branched specialized filaments. Ramipedicella, the recently identified genus, comprises two distinct species. Ramipedicella miniloba, the type species, is distinguished by crusts with small lobes, numerous hair tufts, plurangia terminated by 1–4 sterile cells, and large oblong unangia. Ramipedicella longicellularis is identified by generally smooth crusts, absence of phaeophycean hairs, plurangia terminated by 1–2 apical sterile cells, and smaller mostly oblanceolate unangia.